Challenge statement
Challenge type: If you are working on multiple challenges, please indicate if this is your "big bet" or "exploratory" challenge.
Please note: we ask you to only submit a maximum of 3 challenges - 1x Big Bet, 2x Exploratory. Each challenge must be submitted individually.
BIG BET
Challenge statement: What is your challenge? (Please answer in specific terms: "Our challenge is that...”.)
Our challenge is that Maldives digital transformation approach is fragmented and uncoordinated, leading to slow progress and inefficiencies.
Background: What is the history of your challenge? What is causing or driving it? Who is involved? How does the current situation look like? What undesired effects does it produce?
Maldives has always lacked a unified vision and clear leadership for digital transformation.
The Ministry of Homeland Security and Technology houses many key agencies related to digital initiatives, including the National Centre for Information Technology (NCIT), Cyber Security Agency (CSA), and the Communications Authority of Maldives (CAM), positioning it as a central authority for most matters in the sector. NCIT was established in 2003 and designated as a National Centre approximately a decade later. However, their full mandate remains unclear, with limited delivery on core functions. NCIT shows limited evidence of having performed a leadership role in the government’s digital service implantation – for example but doing setting technical standards across government systems, defining the governments service and data architecture, and other functions ideally suited for an agency such as the NCIT. While there are some exceptions, such as website standards, it remains unclear how effectively these standards are monitored and evaluated. NCIT has led several shared services initiatives, such as the Government E-Mail Service (GEMS) and a data centre. However, it does not manage all government data, with individual agencies adopting varied approaches.
Due to unclear mandates and a lack of clear separation of functions between government institutions, several institutions are involved in the implementation of digital projects. NCIT oversees the implementation of several digitalization projects, such as GEMS (the government task management system) and eFaas (the national digital identification system). TradeNnet, another organization that is a State-Owned Enterprise (SOE) implements several other government digitalization projects, such as OneGov (the unified digital public service delivery platform of the Government of the Maldives), and the Maldives National Single Window (MNSW, a centralized digital platform designed to streamline international trade by enabling trade and transport parties to submit standard information and documents through a single entry point). Additionally, government departments, which have the capacity, develop and implement their own digitalization projectslxxix.
Even though progress is seen in policy and programme development, there is limited coordination and consultation. While the Maldives has implemented several promising digitalisation initiatives in areas such as social protection, healthcare, and the legal sector (these efforts appear to be developed in a relatively ad hoc manner. Many key developments are also underway in the digital sector, with the development of numerous laws (Privacy and Personal Data Protection, Cybersecurity, Digital Government Services) and strategies (Digital Transformation, Artificial Intelligence), amongst others. However, policymaking in the digital sector is seemingly occurring in silos, with limited coordination between parallel efforts. For instance, the development of several strategies appear to have proceeded without explicit directives for alignment or coordination across agencies/sectors. There is limited evidence of unified strategy-setting or a coordinated push to drive digital transformation across sectors, which could adversely affect achievement of government’s envisioned objective. Furthermore, the pace at which some of these are developed is rushed, with limited meaningful consultation with relevant stakeholders. Unless the efforts are coordinated, coherent, and well consulted, fragmentation is likely to continue.
This lack of coordination vision, leadership and action is leading to inefficiencies. Due to the lack of overarching government services architecture and no clear definition of who will develop core and common services that can be (re)used by all other systems, it appears that many different government organizations are procuring and implementing very similar systems, often developing software components that have already been developed elsewhere. This is likely highly economically inefficient. More importantly, the lack of interoperability standards, data standards, and other technical standards means these systems will not easily share data or communicate with each other. As a result, a ‘government-wide’ service orientation is missed, compounding the economic inefficiencies.
In 2024 UNDP worked with NCIT and President’s office to conduct a comprehensive situation analysis of digital transformation in Maldives. The assessment covered 5 pillars of UNDP’s digital transformation framework and was drafted based on wide consultations with government, private sector, civil society and other stakeholders. The government was involved in the process and the findings of the report were shared with partner agencies with the intention that UNDP will work with government to formulate a national digital transformation strategy. However, the response and willingness from government mandate holder has been limited. Given the challenges engaging government on strategy development, UNDP has decided to work with the Think Tank who conducted the assessment to put forth recommendations to the government and execute a communication and advocacy campaign with the aim of influencing the digital transformation policy in the country.
Quantitative evidence: What (official) data sources do you have on this challenge that better exemplifies the importance and urgency of this frontier challenge? You can add text, a link, or a picture.
The Maldives has a mixed performance across key international benchmarks that assess the state of its digital development. Maldives is ranked 94 out of 193 United Nations member states in the E-Government Development Index (EGDI). Unlike the EGDI, the Maldives performs poorly in the GTMI compared to its peers in the South Asian region, ranking only ahead of Afghanistan. Maldives scored highest in the Public Service Delivery Index (0.74/1) among the sub-indices, which measure the maturity of online public service portals, focusing on citizen-centric design and universal accessibility. On the other hand, it performed poorly on 2 sub-indices: the GovTech Enablers Index indicating a lack of institutions, laws, skills, and policies required for government digital transformation, and the Digital Citizen Engagement Index, indicating poor performance in indicators such as the availability of open government websites, open data portals, national platforms that allow citizens to participate in policy decision-making, provide feedback on service delivery, and whether the government publishes its citizen engagement statistics. The ITU’s ICT Regulatory Tracker also highlight significant room for improvement, being classified as ‘G5 - Limited’ – the lowest of 4 categories, on the digital transformation readiness scale.
Qualitative evidence: What weak signals have you recently spotted that characterizes its urgency? Please provide qualitative information that better exemplifies the importance and urgency of this frontier challenge. You can add text, a link, or a picture.
https://thedocs.worldbank.org/en/doc/93bdbd79b45eeb504743f4514f1095e1-0310062021/original/April-2021-Maldives-Development-Update.pdf
MCSC2024 paper presentation by Uz. Mohamed Niyaz
MCSC2024 paper presentation by Mohamed Ushau
Core framework for revolutionary digital transformation to be established under the President's guidance - The President's Of
Value proposition: What added value or unique value proposition is your Accelerator Lab bringing to solving this challenge? Why is it your Lab that needs to work on this challenge and not other actors within UNDP, other stakeholders in the country respectively? Why is it worth investing resources to this challenge?
The Accelerator Lab brings a multistakeholder, whole-of-society approach to tackle fragmented digital governance. It connects grassroots insights, think tank expertise, and public voice into one cohesive push for inclusive policy reform — something no other actor in the UNDP ecosystem is positioned to lead.
Short “tweet” summary: We would like to tweet what you are working on, can you summarize your challenge in a maximum of 280 characters?
siloed systems are slowing Maldives’ digital progress. We’re mobilizing evidence and partnerships to influence policy for a more inclusive and coordinated digital future. #InclusiveDigitalMV
Learning questions
Learning question: What is your learning question for this challenge? What do you need to know or understand to work on your challenge statement?
What approaches and governance models can catalyze an inclusive, whole-of-society digital transformation in the Maldives, despite institutional fragmentation?
To what stage(s) in the learning cycle does your learning question relate?
Sense, Explore
Usage of methods: Relating to your choice above, how will you use your methods & tools for this learning question? What value do these add in answering your learning question?
Data analysis & data visualization- Publish the situation analysis report and Policy brief
Storytelling: through blogs, op eds and social media
Existing data gaps: Relating to your choice above, what existing gaps in data or information do these new sources of data addressing? What value do these add in answering your learning question?
Public and civil service digital literacy
Institutional role clarity in digital governance
Citizen participation and trust in digital service design
These sources fill critical qualitative and experiential knowledge gaps to complement formal datasets.
8Decent work and economic growth
9Industry, innovation and infrastructure
11Sustainable cities and communities
16Peace, justice and strong institutions
17Partnerships for the goals
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